The Joker's Labyrinth
by AngeloftheMorning1978
Summary: The Team is hired by Wayne to perform dream Extraction on the man known only as "The Joker" A Dark Knight/ Inception fic.
1. Chapter 1

**I love Nolan and his work. So it's only natural that this would be next. **

** This is an Inception/Dark Knight Crossover. A what happened to the Joker type of thing. I have no idea what the new movie will be like or how the Joker's absence will be explained away. So I'm going to explain it here.**

** You might have a better time with this if you read "Mistress of the Maze" first. It's important. I think you might like it. **

** Pls enjoy and review. **

The Joker's Labyrinth

~ "Cobb, I don't want to_ hear_ it." Arthur fumed as the he went about securing the PASIV in it's silver metal case.

"Just listen." Cobb stammered.  
>"No."<p>

"Arthur please."

"No!" Arthur shouted.

A silence pervaded the empty warehouse. The Point Man's sudden outburst echoed through the still evening. Arthur looked embarrassed.

"Cobb, Ariadne is fine. She came back from the dream fine. She's not the Red Queen. This whole thing is insane." Arthur said shaking his head.

"She was humming that tune. The same one the Red Queen was always humming." Cobb said.

"So?" Arthur shrugged. "The Red Queen was apart of Ariadne. For all we know it was a song her grandmother used to sing to her. It was still in her head from the dream."  
>Cobb shook his head.<p>

"Listen, Cobb." Arthur said shrugging on his blazer. He had grown tired of all of this. "If Ariadne was possessed by the devil, I would have been the first to notice it."

Cobb said nothing to this. Arthur had essentially taken the Architect home with him from the hospital. They had been living together for her entire recovery, and beyond.

"She has not done or said anything to make me think something was wrong." Arthur told him calmly. "I don't want to hear anymore about your paranoia." The Point Man told him curtly.

The two men stood in silence.  
>The ding of the freight elevator drew them back to the passage of time. Of Ariadne, Eames and Miles stepping into their workplace.<p>

Arthur stood straighter at seeing the Architect. Trying to act normal. Cobb looking away but kept a watchful eye on her.

It had been a few days since he had heard her hum that disquieting tune. His idea that the Red Queen really had taken control of Ariadne was infecting his mind, like a virus.

Arthur had been right though, she had not done anything since to make him think that the Red Queen was lurking inside her. She had been the same Ariadne. Only a little shaken and cautious since the horrible car accident that almost killed her.

"So, now were all here." Eames was saying. "What's this all about?"

Miles, ever patient and with all the time in the world casually took a set and removed his glasses before beginning.

"You recall a few months ago there was a man who was terrorizing a city in America? Robbed a few banks, killed a Judge, the Police Commissioner, and eventually escalated into blowing up an entire hospital?" Miles said seriously.

"That thing in Gotham?" Ariadne said softly. Her eyes wide.

"Yes, that thing in Gotham." Miles nodded. His own face sad and reproachful.

"I read about that." Cobb said folding his arms across his chest.

A deep scowl setting across his brow, marring his handsome face.

"It had the entire city on edge. Evacuations and everything. The authorities said it was all linked to some deranged mad man who was killed by that... _thing_ of Gotham." The Extractor added.  
>"The Batman." Arthur grumbled. Not amused by the stupidity of such a creature.<p>

"Yeah, is he real or did the papers make that up?" Eames laughed.

"Not important, what is important is that the terrorist who was responsible for all of this was not killed by the Batman of Gotham." Miles said.

The Team looked at the Teacher. Their faces confused.  
>"He was captured alive. He's called the Joker. He has been held at Arkham in a privet cell since the whole thing ended." Miles told them.<p>

"Why tell everyone he was dead?" Ariadne asked. Her face bewildered. An urban legend come to life. A real bogyman.

"Because of the media circus that would entail." Miles told her wisely. "Can you imagine a trial of such a man? The outrage over what he has done? The authorities had buried him. Hidden him in Arkham under another name. No one knows who his really is. And that is just the problem."

"How do you mean?" Cobb asked.  
>"No one knows exactly who he is. Where he came from. It's as if he dropped from the sky. No finger prints or DNA match. No matching descriptions of anyone living or dead. Authorities can not find once clue or lead in this man's true identity." Miles told them.<br>"So they want us to go into his dreams and find out who he is." Arthur started. Completing what the teacher was going to say next.  
>"Exactly." Miles said. "My Cousin Alfred lives in Gotham. His employer, Mr. Wayne has offered to accommodate all of you while you make the extraction on this Joker person."<p>

"The Billionaire?" Cobb asked. "How is he involved."

"Seems the Joker crashed a party of his and roughed up a few guests." Miles said with a grin.  
>"Going into the mind of a manic?" Eames laughed. "Count me out."<p>

The memory of what the Red Queen had subjected him to still fresh in his mind.

"The people there are desperate for answers as to who this man is." Miles said ignoring the Forger. They have offered to pay handsomely." The Teacher gave them a number. "That would be for each of you."  
>"Now, see I was only joking when I said count me out before. You know that." Eames said with a mischievous smile. "Love to do this. Excited to do this. When can we start?"<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

** WOW! Your feedback on chapter one has been amazing! You have a lot of faith in me. I hope I don't disappoint you guys. **

** The next few chapters may seem kinda boring but they all lead to something. Trust me. **

** I may not be able to post 2 chapters a day, but I will try and post at least one chapter a day. I know how much you like my fast updates. Because I update so fast I know there will be type-os and things. Pls ignore them. **

**Pls. Enjoy and review. **

2.

~ "You know, everyone keeps dismissing this guy as being crazy, but I don't think he was." Ariadne said looking up at Arthur from her drawing. The couple were laid out in their bed. The Point Man doing research on his ever ready laptop, the Architect sketching mazes.

Soft piano music played through out the room.

Bliss.

"Did you not hear everything I just told you?" Arthur laughed. "He robbed banks, killing his entire team in the process. Brutally murdered a judge, a Police commissioner, an assistant DA and tried to kill the Mayor and Harvey Dent. Gotham's White Knight."

The Point Man looked over the photo's of Gotham general, what was left of it.

"Lets not forget he blew up a hospital and held a group of doctors and nurses hostage before he was captured. Or that he rigged two water ferries to blow each other up."

"I understand all that." Ariadne said rolling her eyes. "But that proves my point. A mentally ill person could never orchestrate an operation that complex."

She sighed as it was Arthur's turn to roll his eyes. Ever the pessimist.

"Listen, this level of planning is not the work of a schizophrenic mind. A disturbed person, perhaps even a psychopath, but not deranged." She argued.

"What's the difference?" Arthur laughed. "Crazy is crazy."

"Well a psychopath can operate well in society but have no compassion for others. Only themselves. I don't think the Joker was manic, or crazy. I think he was willing do what it took to achieve his goals."

"Yeah, to rain chaos and destruction on innocent people." Arthur sighed.

Ariadne shook her head and put her maze away. Agreeing to disagree. She pulled the covers over and readied for bed. Arthur took the hint and closed his laptop.

"I'm looking forward to this actually." She told him as they settled into one another's arms. "We've never done an extraction like this before. I'm anxious to go into the mind of someone like this."

"About that." Arthur said.

Feeling tense. He hated to break bad news to her.

"Cobb and I think it would be best if you stay here. Not got to Gotham." He said calmly.

"What?" Ariadne sat up. A look of shock, clearly on her face.  
>"After everything you've been through, with what happened in your coma..."<p>

"If my _coma_ taught you anything is that my subconscious can defend its self better then anyone else on the Team." Ariadne said.

Her voice was cold and stern. Just like the Red Queen.

"I know that." Arthur said running a hand over her arm. "Ariadne, I don't want you in the same room as that..._ thing_." The Point Man confessed.  
>The Architect snorted.<p>

"I'm not waiting on the sidelines." She told him. "I've proven myself as a part of this Team time and again. If you and Cobb don't want me apart of this mission, then you don't want me as your Architect."

Her words were biting and final. Her resolve like steel.  
>"Ariadne." Arthur said softly. Pulling her back to him. He searched for the right thing to say. "I know that you can do this. I don't want you anywhere near that man. What he's done, he's killed people."<p>

"He'll be sedated." Ariadne told him. Allowing him to wrap his arms around her.

"Not good enough." He told her.  
>"Arthur, I'm going on this mission." She told him sternly.<p>

He sighed and leaned back. He couldn't fight her. Didn't want to.

"It's Cobb you have to really convince." Arthur told her.  
>"Why Cobb?" She asked.<p>

Arthur laughed.  
>"He thinks that you didn't really make it out of your coma. That your really the Red Queen. It's ridicules." Arthur laughed again.<p>

Ariadne's face was immovable. Emotionless. Her eyes cold.  
>"Why would he think that?" She asked in a dead tone. Arthur shrugged.<br>"You know how paranoid he can be." The Point Man said.

She only nodded.

"Leave the light on. Okay?" She asked as he snuggled back into his arms. Feeling safe.

"I know." He told her kissing the top of her forehead.

"It's kinda pathetic, huh? Your girlfriend is afraid of the dark." She laughed at herself.

"No, I like it." Arthur said honestly. "I get to protect you." He whispered.

~ A privet plane was sent to bring the team to Gotham. Landing on a remote airport where they were taken by limo to a reclusive home in the country.

"Welcome to Master Wayne's summer estate." A courtly gentleman with an uncanny resemblance to Miles said as the Team looked over the opulent house. A Victorian complete with turrets and towers.

"You must be Alfred, Miles cousin." Cobb said shaking the older gentleman's hand.  
>The congenial butler smiled and warmly welcomed them in. The walls were adorned in cherry wood paneling. Stained glass in every available window. Every detail perfect and ornate. No short cuts taken in the building or decorating. Like a modern day castle.<p>

"I'm afraid Master Wayne will be otherwise engaged this evening." The perfectly poised butler said as he showed them the house. Having their bags sent to their rooms.

"He sends his regrets and asks that you please make yourself at home. That he can discuss business with each of you in the morning." Alfred said.

~ "Look at this place." Ariadne said as she and Eames separated themselves from Cobb and Arthur to explore the impressive house.  
>"Right. Just the <em>summer<em> Estate." The Forger said with a smile. She had suppress a grin.

The Architect threw a glance at Cobb. The Extractor talking to Mr. Wayne's butler about the job. Asking questions the poor gentleman most likely did not know the answers to.

A cold stone growing in her belly at the idea that Cobb thought the Red Queen still held power over her.

~ Ariadne couldn't sleep. Perhaps it was being in a new place. It's dark shadows and strange noises. So different from what she was used to. She didn't trust the closet, the things that might be hiding in there. The shadows in the bathroom. For a long time she lay curled into a tight ball and listened to the house.

Arthur was sound asleep beside her. He could sleep through a hurricane and wake up ready to start the day. His years of dream extractions meant he never dreamed. In sleep, his mind was not troubled or haunted.

He was a comfort to her after the ordeal of her coma. He really did keep her safe. The first few days after waking up, she was plagued by ghastly nightmares.

A demon woman, rattling around her head, trying to get out.

"_I'll cut you! You horrible girl!_"

Even now, she could hear the voice, wanting to get out.

Waiting to be freed.

The Architect abandoned her bed with the Point Man. Throwing a robe over her night dress and picking up a high wattage flashlight.

She knew a glass of milk would help her sleep. Perhaps a nice cup of hot tea with honey. Her mind comforted by the idea of it.

It was eerie, this summer home on an enigmatic billionaire. It was well past midnight and the home was dark and foreboding. She stayed in the lighted safety of her bedroom and pondered the darkness that lurked in the hallway.

Her flashlight cutting a forceful beam into the depths. Exposing all the hidden things.

Her common sense told her that there was nothing there, but she still felt nervous.

Slowly, she closed her bedroom door and crept on silent feet down the hallway. Keeping the bright beam of light on her at all time.

_The things that live in the darkness are afraid of the light._

The house was obscenely large. It's stained glass casting odd shadows that tricked her eyes. Her feet on the hard wood floors gave off loud creaking noises that she feared might alert someone. Or something.

She tried to move swiftly through the house. Hurrying to the kitchen that Alfred had shown them. Away from the creepy stain glass and noisy floors. Things in the shadows just out of her flash lights reach.

It felt like relief to finally reach the kitchen. Bright and cherry. The lights, snapping on gleaming and safe. Like a hospital. Chasing away every speck of shadows. Ariadne relaxed as she quickly found where the cook kept glasses and tea things. She drank her milk as she waited for the kettle to boil.

Never hearing silent feet creeping up behind her. Never seeing a dark figure spying on her.

"What are you doing here?" A strange voice growled.


	3. Chapter 3

** Like I said the first chapters are a little slow, but they are all leading to something. **

3.

~ She screamed. A scream that, in the large summer house, would never carry to the upstairs bedrooms. The man before her put a finger to his lips. Telling her to be quite.

He was handsome and well groomed. The picture of old fashioned American good looks.

"Who are you?" She cried. Her heart beating too quick. Tears falling out of her eyes. Not realizing her glass of milk had fallen to the floor, shattering.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said. "I'm Bruce Wayne. This is my house." He said with an easy smile.

"Oh." She breathed. Her hand at her heart trying to recover from her bad scare.  
>"You always go sneaking up on your house guests?" She accused.<p>

~ Mr. Wayne, or Bruce as he told her to call him, was polite and charming. After he professed his regrets at scaring her, he took the kettle off the stove and served them both a hot drink.

She explained who she was. That she was the Architect of the extraction Team he had hired. Cobb and the others were upstairs sleeping.

"What are you doing up so late, Ariadne?" He asked. Giving her a half smile. She shook her head and nibbled on one of the cookies he had set out for them.  
>"Can't sleep. New place." She told him. "I mean it's wonderful and beautiful, just spooky at night." She told him not wanting to hurt her host's feelings.<p>

"I understand. You should have seen Wayne Manor. When I was little, I was afraid to leave my room at night. Everything was dark and my parent's had all these statues all over the house. I was terrified. I had to sleep in one of the old servants room. It felt more cozy, safer." Wayne laughed at himself. She nodded. Imagining the little boy in a big scary house.

"What are_ you_ doing up so late?" She asked finally.

"I'm a bit of a night owl." He laughed.

"Clubbing and cavorting?" She teased.

"Something like that." He smiled back at her. "So, I've read about dream extractions. How exactly dose it work?"  
>She happily explained the more basic aspects of the dream world. Projections, the Dreamer, the Subject. How in the dream state the subject's defenses are lowered and that made their thoughts vulnerable to theft.<p>

She told him about the importance of a totem. The kick. Dream time verses real time.

Wayne listened with a ravenous sense of intelligence that she was not expecting from the rumored self absorbed playboy.

"Amazing technology." Wayne said shaking his head. "It must be interesting work."

"A good word for it." Ariadne said.

Her mind was else where.

"_Your horrible wicked girl!" _

"Are you alright?" Wayne asked.

She came back to the kitchen then. It's bright safety.

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry." She stammered. Embarrassed.

Wayne looked down at his empty cup.

"I suppose your wondering why a privet citizen is engaging an extraction Team to find out information on a suspect in police custody." He said

"I know why." She told him boldly.

Wayne looked up. Surprised. She shrugged.

"Rachel Dawes. She was killed by the Joker." Ariadne said.

Wayne sat a little straighter. His face taking on a stoney look. The Architect was not afraid or intimidated. She had faced worse.

"After everything he's done, what he did to her, I'm sure you want answers." She concluded.

"How... how did you know about Rachel?" Wayne asked. Trying to regain composure.

"Arthur. Out Point Man, he also does all the research involved on each new client. On each mark. It makes it safer to go into the dream. Knowing what to expect." She told him casually.

Wayne kept that same ice like stare on her. She never flinched. A coldness had come over her own body suddenly. She didn't feel any compassion or empathy of him. Not the way she felt when Cobb had told her of Mal's death. Almost like she enjoyed inflicting the pain of memory.

"Rachel Dawes was your childhood friend. You were very close to her. Said so in public many times. The Joker threw her out a window at a party you were having for Harvey Dent. The Batman saved her. Then the Joker had her kidnapped, blown up in a building." Ariadne finished coldly. As if reciting a story that happened to someone else. Someone she wasn't sitting in front of.

Mr. Wayne looked uncomfortable.

"I guess that's all a matter of public record." He said with a grimace.

"Yes." She told him. "So the Joker has been held in Arkham since this whole thing ended? No trial or anything?"

"No." Wayne said. His voice stern and business like. "All this information is included in the confidentiality contracts you signed before agreeing to the job. No one can know that maniac is still alive."

Ariadne's left eye winced slightly at the name 'maniac'.

"We have had specialists in with him. Trying to get information about his real identity. But he speaks in riddles. Gives stories about his childhood. Each more horrific then the last. None of them true, I'm sure. He toys with the doctors. Gives them false leads." Wayne shook his head.

His face changed as he said this. The elegant good looks of a privileged son. Replaced by something... haunted and dark.

"I called your Team in because I need to understand this man. The typical criminal is not complicated. An old friend once told me that that some men can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. I don't believe that. I think if we find out what made the monster, we can understand it." He finished.

"Monster." Ariadne repeated. The Harpie screeching in her head. Rattling around, looking for a way out.

"_You wicked Girl! I'll get you!"_

She snapped back to reality.

"Bruce, some people are just monsters. They don't have a reason. They don't have a genesis. What happens if we go down in the dream and there and find the Joker was always this way? Always a... _maniac_?" She forced that last word out.

"No, Something made him like this. No record of this monster? No persons with scars like that? He came from somewhere. He wasn't created just to torment me." Wayne said shaking his head.

"You?" She repeated. Giving him a curious look.

Wayne looked up. Suddenly sensing he was talking to someone he barely knew.

"I'm sorry, it's late. I should try and get some sleep. We can discuss this in the morning." He said returning to the polite, handsome playboy he had been earlier. Even his voice was different.

Ariadne sensed something was off about that. As if the carefree arrogant man he showed her now was... not real. Only a mask.

"Your right." She agreed. Reaching for her flashlight.

"I'll walk you to your room." He offered holding out his arm for her to take. Ever chivalrous.

She snapped on the bright beam. It's light cutting across the darkness. With Wayne there, the darkness didn't seem so formidable. It were respectful of him somehow.

"Are you afraid of the dark?" He asked kindly. Leading her upstairs. His voice was not mocking or cruel. Only concerned.

She laughed at her own foolishness and shown the light into dark corners.

"You have no idea." She said.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

~ Mr. Wayne greeted the Team bright and early after breakfast in the drawing room. There, he laid out his wishes for the extraction on the Joker.

"I want to know everything. His real name, his parents, his childhood. I even want to know his 7th grade locker combination."

The elusive billionaire was all business. Professional and to the point. Cobb and Arthur responded to this. They liked to be around someone like him. Someone smart and decisive. Who could discuss serious matters easily.

Eames and Ariadne exchanged knowing looks. Hiding little smiles behind their eyes. Mr. Wayne was imposing and eloquent, but the Architect and Forger were not dazzled by his wealth or manners. They had both worked with rich men before. They were not impressed.

"So the Team will be yourself, Mr. Cobb, your Point Man, your Forger and your Architect?" Wayne said nodding at each of them. Keeping Cobb and Arthur on their toes with his questions. Demanding rapid answers. Mr. Wayne had no time to spend codling them.  
>"Ariadne will be staying out of the dream." Cobb said formally. Not looking as her.<p>

"_What_? No I won't!" She said harshly. That bravery about her returning. She had never been willing to take a backseat in their work before and was not about to start now.  
>"Yes, she is." Cobb said. "We have our reasons." The Extractor said all this to Mr. Wayne. Ignoring his Architect completely.<p>

"No! I'm _not_!" She almost shouted. "If I'm not apart of this mission, Cobb, then I'm not apart of your Team." Ariadne threatened. She hated having to resort to this, but had no choice.

"Mr. Cobb." Wayne said. His voice formal and like ice. The entire Team looked at him. "You told me over the phone that Ariadne was the best Architect that could be found. I trusted that you were not exaggerating."

"She is the best. But-"

"Then we will need her in the dream." Wayne interrupted calmly.

"We?" Arthur repeated.

"Yes, I'll be going with you." Wayne told them confidently.

"No, No, No." Eames said shaking his head. "We all agreed, _no tourists_."

"Bruce, we have no idea what could be in the Joker's mind. It could be dangerous." Ariadne said.

Arthur gave her a look at hearing her use their client's first name. The Point Man's face surprised at first before tightening into a scowl worthy of Cobb.

"I'll be fine." Wayne assured her with a small half smile. The same one he gave her last night. Making Arthur's scowl deepen.

"Bruce, the last tourist we brought down into the dream almost became lost there. He was shot in the chest and was in horrible pain and we couldn't wake him up."  
>"I appreciate your concern, Ariadne." Wayne said gently. "But I'm going on this mission just like your going on this mission." Wayne told her. A finality in his voice.<br>"I guess were all going." Cobb said as Arthur and Eames shook their heads.

~ Arkham Asylum was foreboding. It looked every bit the haunted house of nightmares.

"My God." Ariadne breathed as the Team first laid eye on it. It's cathedral spires, its stone walls and narrow windows. It almost looked like a mid-evil castle. Only more decrepit and hideous. As if the evil housed inside had crept into the very stones and glass of the building. Changing it into a living thing.

"Arkham has been here for over a century." Wayne was explaining. "They have treated all manners of mental ill patients. It started as a basic sanitarium. A place to lock up Gotham's truly deranged. Child killers and schizophrenics. Lobotomies and electron shock therapy were all performed here decades ago. Gotham was and still is the epicenter of psychological research and study. Most of the funding for Arkham comes form universities who come to observe the patients here."

"Lobotomies." Cobb muttered. The word creating images of zombie like people. Coming out of the shadows. Afraid of the light.

"In order to help them." Wayne said. "I'm sure it seems very backwards now, but back then it was truly thought to help."

Ariadne felt a chill as Wayne recounted Arkham's ghastly history. This place was haunted.

The gray sky's had opened wide and was starting to pelt down rain. Perfectly suiting the ominous building and its grounds. Nothing grew here. The lawn was cut short and it's grass was gray and brown. Dead trees were strewn casually about. Left to rot and fall apart. The only thing that could grown in this place was madness.

Ariadne shivered and pulled her coat on to her body tighter. The rest of the Team wishing to beat the rain was hurrying inside, but she stayed out on the drive. Looking up a the dizzying heights of the towers. Wondering what could be looking down at her.

Fall had come early to Gotham. Howling a cold breeze at her. A chill that went through to her bones. A warning.

_Stay away.. Stay away... _

"Ariadne?" Wayne said coming back for her. She looked at him. His voice bringing her back to the real world. She was startled to see him. As if she had woken up from a dream, had come out of a spell.

"Yes. I'm fine." She told him. "This place is just... spooky." Wayne nodded and took her hand in his. Guiding her and the rest of the Team inside.

Despite it's haunted exterior, the part of the hospital presented to visitors was clean and warm. As the cold rain started to pound outside, the Team was lead on an abridged tour of the facility.

"Most of our residents, are not exactly criminal. Just in need of monitoring. Many of them are high functioning, just have to be medicated." The director said waving a hand to a cozy living room that many men were gathered around. Watching TV.

"Stay close, ma'am." The director hissed to Ariadne as some of the men noticed a woman in their midst.

Arthur inserted himself between their view of the pretty Architect in the bright red walking coat. She laced her cold fingers in his strong steady hands. Comforted.

~ Finally, they reached the more restrictive floors. The home of the truly dangerous criminals.

"Dr. Johnathan Crane is housed here." The Director boasted. "As well as some other famous celebrities of Gotham. Many of who escaped during the incident a few years ago. Brought back by the Batman."

"That's not likely to happen again is it?" Arthur asked. His tone cold as he kept Ariadne close to him.

"Not likely." Wayne growled looking up and down the halls. Every room was closed off with a thick steel door. Only a small window on top for looking in and a small locking door in the bottom for the passage of food were used on a daily basis. The room number on each cell was painted on the dull steel with bright red paint.

Ariadne gave a shutter at seeing the sudden red in the wash of beige and gray. Institutional colors.

"Here he is." The Director said proudly. "He has his own cell. Privet and with a view of the city." The director added. As if trying to sell them on this wonderful piece of property. "We also have an observation room on the side. We can better see the resident from there." He added unlocking a room marked 'broom closet'.

~ Inside was a bank of computers and TV's. Monitoring equipment.

"He has been a favorite study of our doctors since his capture." The director said.

The Team ignored him as their eyes caught sight of a window. A one way mirror that allowed them to look into the opposing cell without the inhabitant know he was being watched.

He was leaning against a corner. His posture was slumped and his face was hidden.

The evil specter of Gotham, The Joker.

A crash of thunder rumbled over the hospital. Making the lights flicker.

"It's alright." The director said. "Just the storm. We have a generator. No worries. The doors are locked manually. The safety of the staff takes president over fire safety of these animals."

Ariadne noticed that he stopped calling the individuals house here _residents_.

"_Well hello, Clarice_." Eames hissed in her ear in his best Hannibal Lector voice.

Ariadne jumped and felt the contaminant of the factional character had actually whispered in her ear. The Forger was laughing. Breaking the eerie spell that Arkham and the Joker was casting over the entire group.

"Cut it out Eames!" She said hotly. Brushing her hand over her ear. Trying to shake off the creeping feel his joke has caused. Eames kept laughing. Amused at himself as she kept waving a hand at the ghost of something near her ear.  
>"He has that effect on women." Arthur told Wayne, who was watching the playful exchange. Ariadne swatting Eames on the chest. Telling him off.<p>

"Let's get started." Cobb said. Not amused. 


	5. Chapter 5

5.

~ "He's kept mildly sedated at all times." The Director was saying as orderlies brought an unconscious man into the operating theater. The Theater was a relic of the days of ECT's and lobotomies.

Ariadne was fascinated by an eerie skylight in the ceiling of the theater. It looked like a spider web. Lighting crashing overhead, illuminating the room with it's harsh spartan light.

The storm raging outside. The hard rain visible through the skylights, encrusted with grim on the inside. Witness to a century of ghastly experiments and torture, all done in the name of mental health.

"I suppose there isn't a _creepier_ place we could do this?" Eames asked. "A graveyard perhaps?"

"We do have a cemetery on the grounds for our residents with no families. The ones who have died here." The director said. Confused as to why the Team would want to take this endeavor outside in the rain.

"He's Joking." Arthur grumbled.

Ariadne was looking at the man. He looked perfectly normal. His hair long and curly. Dark from the lack of sunlight in this place. His face held only the memory of good looks. He was washed clean of the Joker's make-up. His mouth, horribly marred by gruesome scars. Scars meant to give the impression of an unwilling smile.  
>"Over here." Wayne was saying pulling her away from the slumbering beast. She allowed him to take her away from the object of her fascination.<p>

"Those scars." She said pulling her coat on tighter. Fighting the the chill. "How did he get them?"

"That's one of the things were going to find out." Wayne said as Cobb was hooking the billionaire up to the PASIV device. Arthur, gallantry hooking the Architect up as she kept her gaze on the Joker.  
>"We took scans of his wounds. We think they might have been self inflicted and stitched himself. Body modification." The Director said eager to show how much they did know about their guest. "The wounds are deep. Cut the cheeks right open. Poorly healed to."<p>

"Thank you." Wayne said, stoping off the physical demonstration of the cutting that the director was showing the Team on his own cheek.

"Remember, if anything becomes too intense, all you have to do is die in the dream to wake up." Cobb said to Wayne.

"Right." He said.

"Nothing can hurt you in the dream. If we can't get anything this time, we always go back in again." The Extractor added.

"Ready." Arthur said as the Team had finished laying themselves out on hospital stretchers. Their 'beds' laid out in a perfect circle around the PASIV device.

Ariadne remembered looking up at the spider web like skylight as she fell into the dreams of a mad man.

~ "It didn't work." Eames said sitting back up in his stretcher. The Team was still in the operating theater. The rain turning into a violent tempest.

"Were still here." Arthur said. Sounding grumpy.

"No... were not." Ariadne said slowly.

She took in the little differences of the theater. It was darker, dirtier. Colder.

"Were in the dream." She whispered looking at the empty stretcher.

The Joker was gone.  
>"Where is he?" Wayne growled.<br>"Calm down." Cobb said.

"He's dangerous." Wayne said in a voice not his own.

"We can find him. Everyone just needs to relax and stay focused." Arthur said sitting up from his own stretcher. "Eames, this is your dream. You were supposed to dream of a city. A place we could hide from the Joker's projections." The Point Man looked at the Forger. "The one Ariadne designed."  
>"I did." Eames said defensively. "Joker must have hijacked the dream."<p>

"Wait, he can do that?" Wayne said his eyes wide.  
>"It's rare, but it's been known to happen." Cobb told him sadly. "If a mind is especially smart or strong."<p>

"We have to find him before he finds us." Wayne said. His voice a strange whisper.

"We can sense him in the dream. Find him. His own projections will lead us to him." Cobb told him.

"You should have warned me this would happen." Wayne barked.

"We did." Cobb almost shouted. Growing frustrated. "Ariadne told you that we had no idea what to expect from this man. We have never gone into a mind like this. We have no idea what it can do. What he can do in the dream."

With a loud pop and shutter, the power went out. The comforting hum of electricity was gone. The only sound was that of the rain, and maniacal laughter. Echoing though the terrible stillness.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

~ It was colder in the dream. The lack of artificial light brought out all the shadows from their hiding places. Ariadne stayed close to Arthur and Wayne as she pulled on her coat again. She longed for her flashlight. A weapon to fight against the darkness.

She heard the Team pull out guns. Training them on the door left open when the Joker fled.

"It's just a dream." Wayne said. In that same strange voice. "If you kill him, he'll just wake up."

"Were not going to kill _him_." Cobb said. "Just the projections."

Arthur took Point out of the theater. His cold, stern face angry and determined as Cobb and Eames followed. Wayne and Ariadne bringing up the rear.

The cells were all open. Their doors bent and broken. As if a horrible beast had broken lose. The red numbers on the doors, once so neatly painted, were now haphazardly done. Drips of blood red paint smeared on the rusting doors. The numbers off center and childishly scrawled.

Ariadne felt the warm contact of Wayne's hand take hers.

"Stay close." He whispered. She only nodded.

There were sounds everywhere. Bouncing of the walls as they past empty cells. Arkham Asylum was abandoned. Left open to rot and decay. In the waking world, the place had been terrifying enough. In the dream, it was a true nightmare.

"Ariadne, I want you and Wayne to wake up." Cobb said finally. Looking around at the fearsome shadows. Wondering what could be hiding there.  
>"Why?" Wayne asked.<p>

Arthur secured the only door out and locked it. He turned to see Wayne holding the Architect's hand. His face falling.

"The situation has changed. Were not in control." Cobb was saying.

"We've been in a situation like this before." Eames said. Backing the Extractor up. "It wasn't fun for anyone." He looked at Ariadne who let go of Wayne's hand.

The laughter. Menacing and ominous. It's ghostly echoes reverberating though out the walls. The tiles making the acoustics grow louder. Impossible to pin point. The laughter was inside the very cell block Arthur had locked them in.

"He's in here." Wayne said in that hard voice of his. His face, hunter like.

"Mr. Wayne, we need to wake up and regain control of the dream. The Joker is the dreamer and quite possibly in control of the projections. Do you understand?" Cobb asked.

"Bruce?" Ariadne asked when he didn't answer. Wayne snapped his head back to the group. As if coming out of a spell.

"No, were here to get information on the Joker. This is the best way. Inside his own mind." Wayne said.

"He will tear us apart. We've seen it happen. You don't understand what it means to be inside a fractured mind." Arthur said. His voice angry. The Point Man suddenly not liking the professional Mr. Wayne anymore.

"It won't help to wake up. We need to go forward." Ariadne said agreeing with Wayne. "If we retreat now, we will never be able to get information from him. His mind will protect itself." She said.

"This mission is over, Ariadne." Cobb said. His authority as the Extractor making the decision final.

Like a ghoul from the depths of hell he grabbed her. The Joker detached himself from the shadows and captured the slight Architect, easily dragging her away.

Ariadne gave a terrified scream as Arthur made a lunge for her.

"Nah, now lets _not_ over react!" The vicious creature teased as he held a menacing knife to her throat. "_Accidents_ happen when we over react!" The Joker laughed. The knife flashing in the dim light. His ghastly white makeup making his face stand out more clearly in the dark. He held his knife carelessly, but perilously close to her exposed neck.

"Arthur!" She cried as the fiend's hold on her neck tightened. Her feet dragging as she tried to get away from him. He body was too small. He was too strong.

"Let her go." Wayne said in that voice he never used in public.

"Interesting set up you gentleman have here." The Joker said pulling the Architect back into the shadows with him.

Ariadne was struggling to get away as Arthur and Cobb both made careful advancements to the maniac.

"Going into people dreams to gain all those fun little facts about them. People, not even bothering to sit down with you anymore to have a nice chat. Get to know you the old fashioned way. No, no, no. Everyone's too busy. No time anymore for pleasantries." The Joker rambled as he pressed the sharp knife to her delicate skin.

She screamed as a bright red trickle of blood escaped. Spilling down her flesh.

"_Manners_ gentlemen!" The Joker growled waving the knife at them before returning it to her throat.

"Shoot him!" She screamed. "Arthur! Shoot him!"

"He can't my Dear." The Joker said still holding the knife to her throat with one hand and smoothing her hair with the other. All the while keeping her in a vice like grip that she could not break free from.  
>"Shooting me will only wake me up, then I'll come for all of you in the waking world." The Joker said calmly.<p>

Ariadne was crying softly as the sharp blade pressed harder against her skin.

"And you." He said. His face pressed up to hers. Like they were lovers. "You will be the first I come for. You can ask anyone, I've a fondness for beautiful women."

Arthur kept his gun trained on the clown. The Joker noticing the fierceness written on his face.

"Now, _I_ wasn't the one who invited _you _in here." The Joker said rationally. Waving a hand at his head.

"No, I'm not responsible for your little girlfriend being in the situation she finds herself in now." He concluded.

He cut a pair of loathsome eyes at Wayne.

"It was Wayne, here, who insisted on delving into _my_ mind. Violating _me_." The Joker finished logically. "I have to defend myself."

"By holding an innocent woman hostage?" Wayne growled. "You have a beef with me, you and I can work this out."

"Another thing about the dream world, Brucey old boy. Information sharing works _both_ ways. I know lots of things about all of you now. I know about Cobb's poor dead wife, and how she got to be so... well... _dead_. I know about Mr. Eames, and his little gambling addiction. Arthur's chivalrous love for this girl and I know why Ariadne here is afraid of the dark." The Joker said pointing the knife blade teasingly close to her left eye.

He turned his mad, livid eyes on Wayne.

"I also know all of your _dark_ secrets, shall I share them with the class?" He said. The Joker's horrible macabre grin mocking him.

"I guess I don't need to ask you anymore to take off your mask." He grinned.


	7. Chapter 7

7.

~ Like ghosts that were once more given flesh , they came from the shadows. Descending from the ceilings and walls. Up from the floors. The ghouls grabbed the four men as the Architect screamed in unrestrained horror.

"Now, Now!" The Joker said soothingly. "The gentlemen are just going to retire to the study for cigars and brandy!" He told her. He maniacal laughter ringing out as Ariadne screamed Arthur's name.

She watched with wide eyes as the things that live in the shadow's pulled the men downward. The floors melting and swallowing them whole.

She watched Arthur and Wayne struggle violently. The Point Man, Extractor and Forger shooting at the monsters, their weapons having no effect. Blood like tar coming out of the bullet holes.

"Arthur!" She screamed over and over as the Joker wretched her away down into the haunted halls of Arkham. The men descending into their own hell.

~ The fiend was deceptively strong. She could feel a lean muscular body hidden under his clothing. He could hurt her, seriously if he wanted to. He tossed her around the room like a he was dancing with her. Even humming a little tune as he did so.

The shock of what she had seen, what was happening to her was wearing off. Her face stained with tears. Ugly and red. The Joker's horrible laughter was the only noise in the deserted operating theater.

"Well, I can see why Arthur likes you so much." He hummed. "A smart, pretty, independent woman. Your the whole package aren't you? But, you've been keeping little secrets from him haven't you? Worried about all those things that go bump in the night? Hum?" He pulled her close.

His smelly breath and disfiguring face pressed next to hers. He laughed as she tried to squirm away from him.

"Well here, there really _are _things that lurk in the dark. But don't worry. I won't let them hurt you." His voice was almost cartoonish. Unreal.

"Did I ever tell you how I got these scars?" He asked. Hugging her limp body next to him. "Hum?" he asked again when she didn't respond to him right away.

Ariadne was feeling a coldness grown in her core. Turning it's sharp claws over and over. Breaching itself out.

The Joker continued, as if he held her captivated attention.

"When I was a boy, I got bullied a lot. One day, they caught me after school. Beat me nearly to death." The Joker's voice weaving his newest story in overly garish inflections. Like he was telling a story to a child.

"So there I was. Bloody and hurting when one of the older boys held me down and decided to mark me for life." He said. The Joker pulled her face up to meet his. Showing off his poorly healed scars in the moonlight.

"He put the blade in my mouth and started sawing. Cutting and cutting. So that no matter what they did to me, I always had a _smile_ on my face." he grinned.

His psychotic laughter ringing out as he threw her to the ground.

Instinct took over when she was released form the mad man's grasp. She scurried into the moon light provided by the spider wed skylight. Crouching as she watched him dance solo. His arms out stretched as if he still had a partner.

That same ravenous feeling clawing at her insides. Clawing to get out. Screeching.  
>"Lovely story." She said from her position on the floor. "But we both know that's not how you got those scars." Her voice was suddenly melodic. Beautiful and strong.<p>

"You and I are unique, Ariadne." The Joker said. Her name sounded dirty on his lips. "Were not like those others you, me... Wayne." He seemed like a child with a filthy secret. Eager to share it with someone else.  
>"I never would have figured Bruce Wayne as the Batman." He said as Ariadne watched him wide eye. Not believing what he was saying. "In the dreams, all of your little secrets have spilled out for me to examine. Cobb's beautiful wife. What he did to her. The way she just <em>fell<em> off that ledge. Mr. Eames, getting in deep with the gambling. Why he needs to take these extraction jobs. Arthur, Oh the naughty things he thinks about you." The Joker's white make-up reflected brightly in the moonlight. Seeming to float in the shadows. "Would you like to know what he fantasizes?"

Ariadne's face was covered in shadows. She was no longer afraid of the dark. The clawing inside her brain had finally found it's way out.

She stood. Slowly. Her petite body stretched long and lean. The Joker stopped his dancing at seeing the curious sight before him.

A woman, tall and beautiful had replaced the small Architect. Her stunning face scared with stitches sewn in black thread. Her left eye dead and ghostly.

"Now that's very interesting." The Joker said not daring to take his eyes off her. His broken scared smile, twitching slightly.

"Would you like to know how I got _these_ scars?" The Red Queen asked waving at her own marred face.

~ Down in his own privet hell, Bruce Wayne awoke.

Bats. They were everywhere. He had conquered his fear of bats years ago and felt empowered by them now.

The symbol. The symbol he used to defend Gotham was all around him. Floating in a black tornado of violent teeth and screams. They were vicious and ravenous. His own projections. His own army that would go into battle with him.

He could feel the strength returning to his body as he stood up. Strength like he had never felt before. His arms and legs no longer clad in a finally tailored suit. Not even in the heavy duty combat suit he wore one the streets of Gotham. His skin had turned to midnight black. Like an ink well. His muscles visible and defined. He was stronger in the dream, stronger then Batman could ever hope to be.

He took flight. As easily as the genesis of his childhood terror. With massive wings the color of pitch, he swooped upwards out of the cave and into the night.

He flew over a decrepit, haunted Gotham. Populated by zombies of projections. His eyes were perfectly attuned to the darkness. He could see everything, and it was beautiful. He could taste the air. The scent of the city. The stillness as no lights burned in the decimated city.

Nothing lived in Gotham now, only the ghouls and monsters that no longer had to hide. They no longer hide because the shadows and the darkness were all around them. They were safe to terrorize and feed on the helpless inhabitants of the city.

Bruce relished the thought. His wings stretching out further as he tasted the air. Catching the scent of a child. A little girl. Running and scared. He did not so much hear her, as tasted her. Like an horrible avenging angel, he fell out of the sky. Full of the beauty and grace that terrorize the most ardent of believers.

She was dressed in a pretty red dress. Her legs and arms covered in rail road tracks of black stitches. She was screaming, as the things from her own nightmares gave chase.

'She shouldn't have run.' Bruce thought as he flew into the ally. 'If you run, they have to chase you. It's their nature.' He saw the creatures hunting her. Blue skin, white teeth. Blood coming from their lips.

The Child, a small little girl, trying to get away. Lost in a maze that was Gotham.

As easily as plucking fruit from a low hanging tree, she was scooped off the streets and into his arms.

The Child's face was tear stained and her eyes wide as she could only look at he creature that held her now. He realized one of her eyes was dead. Ghostly. A fog over it that black stitches had crisis crossed against.

"What are you?" She whispered as they flew high into the air.

He tried to say his own name, but nothing would come out. He realized he couldn't speak. A rush of anger filled him as he wondered what he had become. This powerful, beautiful creature.

An angel, a monster.

For single solitary moment, he wanted to throw her down onto the hard earth. A fall from this height would surely kill her. Break her little body apart, make it easier for him to stop and feed on her flesh.

Bruce shook those thoughts from his head as he flew closer to the ground. An empty place where she had plenty of running room. A place she would be safe from the projections. If only for a little while.

She looked at him as he took flight again. Never saying another word to her.

He stretched his wings as far as he could and flew on an updraft. A wind that carried him all the way to Arkham.

His_ real_ prey awaited him.


	8. Chapter 8

8.

~ "So let me get this strait." The Joker said as he lay helpless on the stretcher. His legs and arms bound with dated hand cuffs and legs restraints. The type used to immobilize the truly dangerous minds of a century ago.

The Red Queen was standing over him. She was humming her frightful lullaby as her scissors snipped and cut his skin.

Snip, snip, snip.

The Joker, for his part, was calm. He felt no pain as she applied her ghastly craft on him.

"Ariadne was in a coma, her little... boyfriend and his friends went into her mind to try and wake her up. They found _you_ instead?" The Joker asked.

He was highly entertained by the Red Queen. She was impressive and engaged him. Even through her torture of him, he remained enchanted by her.

"They call you the _Red Queen_?" He asked polity when she made no reply. Only cutting further. Her focus purely on her work. His red blood staining her hands

"I'm called the Joker. A Joker and a Queen. What a _pair_ we make." He laughed hysterically at his own bad joke.

"Ariadne doesn't think your insane." The Red Queen said solemnly. Setting down her scissors and plucking up her black thread and dull needle.

"What dose Ariadne know? Half of her is running through the streets of Gotham, the other half is here. You want to talk about crazy? Go look in a mirror." The Joker said. Insulted by the Queens accusation that he wasn't deranged.

"You can sense where she is?" The Queen asked. "Because all I care about is getting that horrible, selfish brat. Finishing her off once and for all. She kept me locked up in her mind for too long. I won't be contained anymore." The Red Queen's voice was cold and calculated. Devoid of all emotion.  
>The Queen sewed the flesh back onto the Joker's white skin. In the dream, his entire body had taken on the same hue as his face paint. White and luminous in the darkness.<p>

"Why do you want her?" The Joker asked. Looking down at the Queen's handy work.

The black stitches across his white chest. Sewing him back together again. Stitch by stitch.

"She's just a child in this place. A Child can't hurt someone like you." He said teasingly.

"Batman is just a man. Surely a man can't hurt someone like you." The Queen retorted. Her tone like ice.

"He's not just a man." The Joker growled. "Not anymore."

"That _Child_ is not just a child. She can control the dream space. No matter how strong someone like you is in the dream, she can manipulate the maze. You may have taken Mr. Eames dream away, but she can elude us forever. She can hide her Team and Wayne. She can wake them up, and when she does... they will end you in the waking world."

"Scary thought." The Joker mused. "But don't worry about Cobb and his Team. I've got them perfectly safe. No one can get to them."  
>"Wayne?" The Queen asked.<p>

"Well, now that's another matter." The Joker snorted. "People call me crazy. I have nothing on _Bruce_ _Wayne_."

"If you expose him as the Batman, you won't have anymore fun." The Queen said helpfully.

"Don't you see? That the _real_ fun. He knows that I know his real identity. I can go after his loved ones." The Joker said.

"You already killed Rachel, he has no more loved ones." The Red Queen said. Sewing and sewing.

"Hum. Your right about that." The Joker conceded. "I should have thought that plan out more."  
>"Do you want to kill him?" The Queen asked.<p>

The Joker chuckled. As if her grizzly sewing tickled him.  
>"The thing is, if I killed the Batman, I would no longer exist. Just like if you killed the little girl, you would no longer exist." The Joker said.<br>"It's a conundrum." The Queen said in her icy voice.

A grin was on his face as he allowed her to continue her work. He gazed up at the spider web like skylight. The rain beating down on it. A shot of lighting casting an eerie flash over the abandoned operating theater.

"Done." She said cutting the thread off her dull, filthy needle. She released him from the restraints and allowed him to sit up. The Joker quickly fled from the stretcher and gazed down at the disfiguring stitches on his body.

"Hum, you do nice work." He said. Amused by a fellow agent of chaos. Powerless to stop the Red Queen, he quickly gave into her.

"I think next, I'll work on that face of yours." The Queen said. Her blood stained scissors flashing in the moonlight.

"We may have to hold off on that, my Dear." The Joker said. A worried look crossing his ghostly face. "I think were about to have company for dinner."

~ Wayne flew on the wings that were just as much a part of his body as his arms and legs. This was freedom, this was wonderful. He felt the cool night air on his new skin. He felt alive, he felt beautiful. His senses were acute. Trained and perfect. He could smell, hear, feel and taste everything around him.

He could hear the projections in the city below. Growling and searching for fresh meat. Smell the little girl in the red dress. Her heart racing too quick. He could taste the grease paint of the Joker. The fiend, hiding in the depths of Arkham. Wayne could sense everything.

Something else. _Someone_ else. A creature, just as beautiful as he... was waiting for him. Her fingers stained with the Joker's blood. Wayne's hunger becoming savage at the smell. He realized he had let lose a primal howl as he picked up on the sweet smell of the Joker blood.

The maniac couldn't hide, not from the creature Wayne had become.

Like a projectile bomb, he flew into the spider web skylight of the operating theater. He would devour the Joker. Eat his flesh like the hungry animal he knew he had become.


	9. Chapter 9

9.

~ Outside of Arkham, the little girl was running. The rain fell heavily on her as her heart was fit to burst from her chest. The rain was cold and penetrating. Soaking her to the bone. Her breath puffing out in white, delicate clouds.

Her red dress was bright in contrast to the deep gray deadness that was the Asylum and it's grounds. The inky black sky above, it's bright shinning moon over head. The Child looked and odd sight in the setting. A stoke of bright life in the grayness of the dream. No artist could have painted a more bizarre landscape and subject.

The Child fearlessly mounted the stairs into the haunted halls of Arkham.

As she wandered the deserted corridors, she could feel they were close. All of them. Her Team, The Joker, The Red Queen and even that thing that saved her from the projections in the city. That thing she knew was really Bruce Wayne.

He had transformed into a monster. A gargoyle like creature that took flight into the sky like a terrible angel. A true creature of the night. She wondered briefly why Wayne would have transformed into such a thing. It was a trick no Forger, not even Eames, could accomplish. She wondered what secrets were lurking in the mind of the elusive billionaire that were coming out in the dream.

She had to find Cobb, Arthur and Eames. She knew they were in terrible danger. She couldn't be bothered by the Red Queen, the Joker or the monster that Bruce had become. They would work themselves out. For better or worse. Her Team was in danger. She knew that. She could feel that. She sensed that the Joker and the Red Queen had done something to them. Had transformed them in someway.

Fearlessly, the child encroached into the shadows of the Asylum. Venturing deep into it's deceptive corridors. Darkness playing over the walls, things that lay hidden and waiting for her. Like spiders, patiently waiting for a fly in their web.

The things that lived in the shadows were whispering.

"The girl."

"The Child?"

"She's here."

"She's come for them."

"She's getting closer."

Instinct led the Child downstairs to the basement dungeons. The dream telling her where to find Cobb, Arthur and Eames. Down into the heart of Arkham she went. A dark place where light was afraid to go. Still the shadows moved and danced along the halls. Hovering ever near, ever ready for the attack.

The Child had resolved herself to courage. She kept her gait slow, cautious and steady. Ignoring the whispers, ignoring her own fear, she vanished in the blackness.

~ The Red Queen's scissors flashed in the moonlight as the creature burst through the operating theater's skylight.

A magnificent beast. His body black as night. His wings, wide and strong.

"Now that's a _real_ Batman." The Joker mused before scurrying behind the Red Queen.

The creature was terrible. Like something from a nightmare. His eyes were a glowing red like bright coals. A part of the beast had come directly from hell. Only to rise up again to extract vengeance on the Joker.

"I don't think he's here for me." The Red Queen said nonchalantly.

Keeping her cold dead eye on the beast.

"Mr. Wayne I presume?" The Queen asked. A little knowing smile on her face.

The demon that Wayne had become, attacked her.

She shed her body. Quickly turning into the Harpie that tormented and hunted so well before. Her hands and feet becoming sharp black claws that scratched and tore at her fellow hellion.

Their scratches and blows, screams and shrikes echoing through the halls.

Clashing oddly with the hysterical laughter of the Joker as he watched.

~ Down in the labyrinth of the basement, the Child searched for her Team. She had to wake them up. If she became lost in the dream, it was a small price to pay if the Joker was kept contained.

She could hear the awful screeching of the Harpie. The screams of the creature Wayne had become. They had found one another. They were fighting. Engaged in mortal combat and one or all of them would be killed and wake up. The Child wondered if the Red Queen died, what that would mean for her. If the Red Queen perished in the dream, would she wake up in Ariadne's body? The Harpie in control of the Architect in the real world?

"Arthur!" She called. Fear rattling her nerves. The presence of whispers all around her.

She wanted her Team with her. Now. Wanted their comfort and assurance. She always felt so safe with Arthur. So strong and smart with Cobb and Eames. They would make all this go away, just being around them would help. It was a foolish childlike belief. Like Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny, but the Child held fast to it.

The dungeons were once the repository of Gotham's human waste. A place to hide all those animals that the city wanted out of their lives forever. Evil men who killed out of sheer lunacy and could not be saved. People who were tucked away in this Oubliette* and forgotten.

Along the walls were bricked alcoves. Bars and cages keeping the maniacs contained. All the doors were open. All the monsters were set free.

She tried to control her breathing as she hurried down the corridors. The only light coming in was from the narrow little windows.

She could hear things, scurrying about in the shadows.

She saw a light then. The pale yellow light of a lantern. Casting an ominous glow over one of the little rooms. She raced to it. Knowing she would find them.

"Arthur!" She breathed a sigh of relief as she recognize the figures of Cobb, Arthur and Eames. She would know them anywhere. Recognizing their stance, their clothing. Their backs to her, they slowly turned at the sound of her voice.

She should have realized. Should have known it was all too easy.

She gasped in horror as she saw their faces. Painted a ghostly white, lips a blood red. Their mouths cut open, sewn back together with black thread. Forcing a smile on their faces. Just like the Joker's.

She knew then that her Team was no longer there. That their minds were gone and belonged to the Joker. Or the Red Queen. Or both.

The Child couldn't stop screaming as her own Team lunged at her. Ready to tare her apart. She ran. Knowing she should never run.

_If you run, the things had to chase you. It was their nature._

* Oubliette, French, Dungeon, a place for forgetting.


	10. Chapter 10

10.

~ They jumped free of the shadows. The Child ran as she could feel Arthur, Cobb and Eames chase after her. Their terrible faces closing in. She fled from them in the winding corridors of the dungeon. Searching desperately for an escape.

There had to be a way out. A way to get free. She was not the dreamer. She could not control this dream. Only that maniac upstairs could manipulate this world. Despite her talents and the Red Queen's fear of her, the Child could not manipulate the maze of madness the Joker had created.

He had done this to her friends. Had changed them into monsters. Into devilish imps that were bound to him. Who would do his bidding.

She finally reached the stairs to the outside as the zombie like projections surrounded her. Gave chase. Their whispers hissing all around her.

"Catch her."

"Catch her!"

"Kill her."

"Cut her her!"  
>"Claw her!"<p>

She screamed as hands found her. Made contact with her flesh. Arthur, the quickest of the Team, was the first to reach her. First to grab her and violently pull her back down to the dungeons.

She had been so close, so close to escaping the Asylum. So close to getting free of these projections.

The Child squirmed under the Point Man's strong body. She looked up and saw the grotesque faces of her Team. Mutilated and painted by the Joker. Made up to mimic a mad man.

She screamed a long terrified cry as their claws came out.

~ Up in the operating theater, the two demons did battle. Fierce talons and shrikes as the Gargoyle and Harpie fought. A powerful instinct telling each other that they were enemies.

The Harpie's black claws against the Gargoyle's supernatural strength. The large theater was a battle ground, to small for the beasts to maneuver properly.

Unseen by either of them, the Joker watched in maniacal fascination. He laughter ringing out among the screams and tortured cries of the Harpie as the Gargoyle gave a heavy blow to it's enemy. Cutting a fatal laceration to her neck. Her red blood spilling out as her life drained away.

Suddenly, things were not so funny anymore. The demon that was Bruce Wayne turned it's fierce glowing eyes on the Joker. On it's _real_ prey as the Harpie struggled futility of the ground. Her life leaving her.

"I know who you are." The Joker sang out. "I know who you really are!" He screamed as the Gargoyle attacked.

~ The Demon was too large to fit into the halls as the Joker made his get away. Clutching his bleeding chest as he ran. Drops of bright red blood spotting the dirty floor. His laughter muffled by his fear that the creature would break free.

The Harpie was no longer there to protect him. She was dying. The Joker wondered briefly what it meant for the real life Ariadne, in the waking world, one half of her dead in the dream. Laying in a pool of her own bright red blood.

The Demon burst through the walls. It's strength, great and terrible.

The Joker ran. Ran to a more secluded hiding place. He could never defeat this thing. Never hope to escape. How had this dream all gone so maddeningly wrong?

But he had an ace in the hole. He always had a plan B. He ran into the dungeons. To the one thing that would stop Wayne.

~ Their hands were cold and hard. Like they were made of stone. The Child was crying as she was dragged back into the pit. Their gruesome faces truly frighting in the half light. As if they were wearing masks. The horrible scars and black stitching distorting their once handsome faces.

The Team said nothing, made no noise as she cried and pleaded with them to let her go. Over her own cries of pity, of mercy, she never noticed the screeching of the Gargoyle and Harpie had stopped.

~ Bruce Wayne was hunting. Driven mad over the smell of fresh blood. The Joker's blood. He was ravenous. Starved to rip the meat off the bones of his mortal enemy. His battle with the Harpie had been just a diversion. She had never been his real prey. She was another beastly creature who stood in his way. Who dared to come between himself and his quarry. Now, she was his victim. A causality of the battle.

He had taken certain enjoyment out of spilling her blood. A sense of power and pleasure had rushed into his veins as seeing her bleeding. It gave him the raw unfocused energy to catch the Joker. To kill him.

~ The Joker stumbled and tripped over refuse and broken furniture in the dilapidated TV room as he ran for the basement. The dungeons, where he knew she would be. His ace in the hole close and ready to be played.

The creature was hunting him. The plaster on the ceilings was crumbling as the monster that was Bruce Wayne was running upstairs, quickly knocking down walls, following the blood trail.

The Joker cursed the Red Queen for cutting him up. Making him bleed. She wasn't so attractive in his mind anymore. Her bizarre and unexplainable fascination with cutting and sewing on him. It brought back too many memories. Memories of how he really got the scars on his face.

He vanished into the darkness, the whispers and scurrying felt comforting to him as he was guided towards the little girl.

~ The Child was held restrained by her own Team. Their macabre faces leering down at her. Their eyes, stark and cruel beneath the black eye makeup.  
>"Please!" she screamed as she could feel the Joker approaching. Coming for her. Ready to hurt her. There was a terrible howl of rage as the monster, the Gargoyle was coming closer. Advancing on all of them.<p>

The Child tried to shake herself free of Arthur's hands. Cold like ice. Holding her easily in a death grip.  
>"Please!" She screamed again as the Joker white face appeared from the darkness. A large knife flashing at his side.<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

11.

"Cut her!"  
>"Kill her!"<p>

"CUT HER!"

"Do it! Do it NOW!"

The things that lived in the darkness hissed. Their voices alive with excitement. With the blood lust as the Joker ripped the Child free of the zombie like Arthur.

She screamed as he held the knife to her throat. A horrible sense of 'here we go again' not lost on either of them.

The monster crashed into the basement. There was little room, even in the widest corridors for such a magnificent creature to maneuver. The Joker pulled the child tighter to him as the Gargoyle stalked him. A deep animal growl coming from it's chest.  
>"Now now Mr. Wayne." The Joker teased holding the child before him like a shield. "You hurt me, you hurt her. Wouldn't want that, right?"<p>

The Beast only growled. A primal hungry growl.

"You still have your rules, don't you?" The Joker added. That awful smile, still tacked on his face despite his somber, hateful attitude.

She was his ace. His only way out. He would kill her, the Beast would kill him and they would both wake up. Enough time for him to take the real Ariadne hostage in the waking world. Always assuming there was still anything to take of her, with the Red Queen dead.

He would hold her long enough to break free of Arkham. Her people, would do anything to ensure she would not be harmed. Anything at all. Once free, he would kill her, and truly hunt the Batman. A fair fight, not this thing that Bruce Wayne had transformed into.

The brat was crying. She was afraid. The sadist part of the Joker was feed by that. He liked to frighten a helpless child. The Team stood behind him. His willing zombies as the beast growled and kept it's eyes on the clown.

The Joker suddenly found the whole thing very amusing. He had to work hard to suppress a giggle. A giggle what would turn into a manic laugh.

~ The Child couldn't fight her own fears. No nightmare could compare to to this. To this moment. The Joker's grip tight on her small body as a demon from hell was growling at them both.

She felt the Joker's body shift, saw the flash of that cruel knife cut through the air and bury itself deep in her chest. She could feel the blade slice through her skin, only a sting, and hit her breast bone. Breaking it with it's force. She cried out. Couldn't help it.

Her body crumbled onto the dirty floor of the basement. Warm rich blood, the color of rubies was spilling out of her.

'What was that old adage?' She found herself thinking. 'About dark red blood? About how that meant things were bad. Bright blood was good, you won't die if the blood is bright red. Dark red, like the kind rushing over the filthy brick floor, that was bad. That meant she was dieing.'

She was strangely calm as she watched in fascination her own blood, washing over the floor.

The Child curled her body up. Fighting away the Pain as the Beast attacked the Joker. Mauling and biting. The Joker's blood splattering against the walls of the basement.

The Child didn't care anymore as she felt her body turn cold. Her ruby red blood had kept her warm and it was leaving her body. She saw only darkness.


	12. Chapter 12

12.

~ The Dream collapsed. The Gargoyle had barely enough time to savor the sweetness of the meat he was pulling off the Joker's bones when the basement started to cave in. Fell and crushed the Team. Their zombie like stares as they seemed indifferent to the slaying and eating of their master.

~ Arthur opened his eyes first. Ever calm, ever practical, he remembered almost nothing of the dream. His heart was not racing and he wasn't sweating from the horrors he had been subjected to. But then again, that was not his way.

He turned to see Cobb and Eames waking up. Neither of them looking particularly disturbed or upset. The Point Man nodded at them as they gave him a thumbs up. Their gaze went immediately to the Architects stretcher. Ariadne wasn't there.

~ Bruce awoke to the brightly lit operating theater. The storm still going on outside. Unlike Arthur and the rest of the Team, he remembered everything. Ever perfect detail. The smell, the feel, the taste of the Joker on his mouth as he was devouring him.

Wayne woke to shouting and crying. The Director of the Asylum was upset. Ariadne was crying. Cobb was telling her to calm down. Arthur was talking softly to her.

"You alright?" Eames was saying to Wayne as he helped him to sit up. Wayne's vision was blurry as he tried to regain and figure out what had happened to him.

He looked from Cobb to Arthur to Ariadne. She was standing in front of the Joker. A sharp instrument of some kind in her tight first.

Her hands, covered in blood. The Joker lay lifeless on the table. His throat, cut open and bleeding. His face was peaceful. As if he had died in his sleep. His skin, dead and drained of blood, had finally taken on the white pallor the clown always wanted.  
>"Ariadne, put it down." Arthur was saying gently. Talking to her like a scared animal, who might lunge out and hurt them all.<br>The Architect's face was a mess. Stained with tears and made gross by an ugly fit of anger, fear and violence.

"I'm sorry." She was crying. "I was scared." She allowed the Point Man to take the sharp instrument she had used to sever the Jokers throat away. She collapsed in his arms, her ugly sobs taking over.

The fiends dark red blood, like rubies, still on her hands. Transferring to Arthur's suit. The Point Man, not caring as he held her close.

~ "That girl woke up, ran over to the inmate and _sliced his throat open_!" The Director was huffing. Wiping his forehead with a handkerchief. Sweat was coming off his brow as he could just imagine the paper work, the publicity.

"Now how can she have killed someone that doesn't exist?" Wayne said coldly.

It felt odd to hear his own voice again. He had gotten used to the sounds he made as the Gargoyle. As the hunter.

"He _did_ exist Mr. Wayne. I don't car how much contributions you give to this facility, an inmate was murdered in the building while under an illegal experiment orchestrated by you and these, _people_!" The Director stammered. Waving an agitated hand at the Team.

Cobb gave the Director a hard look.

"If I pull all of my funding, you will be out of a job." Wayne said. "The place will be shut down. Your inmates, the _animals_, will have no place to go."

The billionaire's words were harsh and cruel. The Director gaped at him.

"You said something about a little cemetery in the back? For the residents who died here?" Wayne asked.

The Director nodded.  
>"The two orderlies that brought him in can do it. They've been here for decades. They'll be discreet." The Director said slumping in his chair.<p>

"There's no record of this man on the books as it is. He never existed as far as paper work." The director added. "He was such a fascinating case study." The man lamented sadly.

~ "Mr. Cobb, what to you remember about the dream?" Wayne asked as soon as the Director left to oversee the might-night burial.

"I remember the Joker taking control of the dream, holding Ariadne at knife point, then..." Cobb searched him memory for answers. They were elusive. He couldn't find them.

"Same here." Eames said. "It's very strange."  
>"What do <em>you<em> remember?" Cobb asked Wayne.  
>"Nothing." Bruce lied. Shaking his head. Trying to free himself of the powerful creature he had been. Had loved being. Still tasting the meat on his teeth.<p>

"Mr. Wayne?" Eames asked. Bruce turned around to face the Forger. "You know we cant trust that Director fellow." Eames said.

"He's right." Cobb told him. "As soon as he get's an offer for a tabloid or legitimate newspaper, he will sell you out."

"We can drug him. We have a compound that will cause amnesia of the last 12 hours." Eames said. "We used it on some of our more difficult extractions."

"Do it." Wayne said. "The orderlies to. "I want this night to be over."

~ Ariadne had been given a shot of something to calm her down. The drug was working, she felt much more sedated. The kind, sympathetic nurse smiled sweetly down at her.  
>"You just took fright it all." She said matronly. Her silver hair and ready smile were a comfort as she smoothed the Architect's hair and dried her face. "Happens here all the time. No worries. Don't think about it anymore."<p>

The Nurse had asked no questions. Chalking it up to the norm around Arkham.

Ariadne had madly washed her hands earlier but she could still feel the Jokers' warm blood on her skin. Still feel the taint of it under her nails. Her thoughts going back to the torments of Lady Macbeth. Trying to wash away the blood and never coming clean.

Arthur refused to let her wash her hands again.

"Their clean, I promise their clean." The Point Man said soothingly as the Nurse produced a bottle of rubbing alcohol and generously rubbed and cleaned her hands and under her nails.

The smell of the rubbing alcohol, it being linked in her memory with the killing evil germs, calmed her. The natural coolness of it on her body helped to slow her breathing. Letting the drugs in her blood work on her. She nodded off happily in Arthur's presence as the Nurse was rubbing her fingers with a cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol.


	13. Chapter 13

13.

~ A bright, beautiful day had dawned over Wayne's country estate. The rain from before had seemingly washed away all the sins of the night.

It was early dawn by the time Wayne and the Team had finally come back from Arkham. Alfred met them at the door. A worried look on the old man's face as he helped Arthur get Ariadne up the stairs to their room. She had become childlike. Trusting the Point Man and Butler to care for her.

~ Now that morning was on them again, the drugs Ariadne had taken were wearing off. She still felt groggy and her head hurt, but she was able to tell them what happened.

"He stabbed me." She said simply. Omitting everything else form the dream. She could tell by the worried look Bruce had given her that he remembered everything from the dream as well. She was filled with intimate knowledge about him. Dangerous information that her common sense told her she must keep hidden. Even from her own Team.

She said nothing at all about the Red Queen or the Child. The men, excepting Bruce seemed ignorant of that aspect of the dream. Indeed, they seemed to be very fuzzy on any details of what happened.  
>Arthur took her hand as she spun a story that the Joker had stabbed her early in the dream. The first time the fiend took her hostage. She described how she wok up in a sheer rush of raw, naked panic. Had grabbed a tuning instrument from the PASIV device and used it to dig the Joker's throat out while he was still asleep.<p>

"I panicked. I was afraid he would wake up first and hurt me again." She said using the memory of the dream to bring on real tears to her eyes. "I'm sorry Bruce." Ariadne said meeting Wayne's eyes. A knowing look passing between them. "I know how badly you wanted answers."

"I'm just glad everyone's alright." Wayne said honestly. That casual playboy back again.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. I should have known the Joker was capable of something like this." Wayne admitted.

"The Joker was a manic who killed innocent people." Eames said. Lets not waste anymore time worrying about him.

~ As Arthur, Eames and Cobb were preparing to leave, Ariadne and Bruce once more met in the kitchen. The space looked more homey in the bright day light.

"I had to do it." Ariadne said. "He was about to wake up. All of you were still under." She said coldly. Uncaring about how she had ended a man's life.

"I understand that." Bruce said pouring them both a cup of tea. "The situation just went out of control."

"Cobb and the others, they can never know about the dream." Ariadne told him. "Never know about what you saw me become. The Child, the Harpie. Nothing."

Bruce nodded and looked as his hands.

"You keep my secrets, Bruce, and I'll keep yours." She said holding her hands over her head. Her index fingers sticking up, mimicking pointed ears of the batman's cowl.

Part of him wanted to laugh it off. Make her feel like she must have been imagining things. But deep down, he knew better. The Joker had known who he really was. Had called him by name in the dream.

"No one can know." Bruce said in the Dark Knight's husky whisper. She nodded.  
>"Bruce, you need my help." She said earnestly.<p>

"With what?"

"If the Joker can find information about you through your dreams, so can any dream extractor. You need me to teach you to defend your subconscious." She told him.

"I thought Cobb was the Extractor." Bruce said. His face a serious scowl.  
>"He is, but the fewer people who know who you really are the better." Ariadne said. "This isn't corporate espionage or a secret love child. People's lives are at stake."<br>"Are you planning to use this information against me one day?" Bruce asked. Suspicious.

"Not at all. I have my own secret don't I?"

"That thing, the Harpie. That was you? Also the little girl?" Bruce asked.

She nodded.

"Was that a result of the car accident? Your coma?" He asked

"You did your research on us I see." She laughed.

"Why your afraid of the dark?" He asked.

"Cobb is worried that the Red Queen is in control. He has trouble trusting me." Ariadne said in a far off voice. "If he knows the Red Queen had come back into the dream, he could never trust me again."

"You keep my secret and I'll keep yours." Bruce said. Seriously.

"I also want something from you." Ariadne said. Her voice cold and purposeful.  
>"Money?"<p>

"Not hardly. I want you to teach me to not be afraid of the dark anymore. I know you used to have certain phobias of bats, I want you to teach me to conquer my own fear." She said

"Tit for tat?"

"Exactly."

Bruce nodded and suppressed a smile.  
>"I'll have Alfred keep your friends busy while were down in the dream." Bruce offered as she retrieved the PASIV device that she had kept handy.<br>"It's will take less then an hour in the real world." Ariadne said confidently.

She paused and looked at Bruce.

"While I was in the dream I found out a lot about him. The Joker. Things he thought he had hid. Do you want to know? About the scars? About who he was? Why he did the things he did?" She asked.

Bruce's face was cold. Hard and thoughtful.

"No." He finally said. "He's gone now. It doesn't matter."

She only nodded. The finality of the moment creeping in on them.

"I don't feel the slightest guilt." She confided shamefully. "I knew what I was doing. I wasn't really scared or upset." She told him. "I knew I had to do it. You had killed the Joker in the dream, he was going to wake up. I couldn't let the Joker be in control of the real world."

Bruce nodded.

"I feel bad, that I don't feel bad." She said numbly.

Bruce cut his eyes at her. She shook her head. Ridding her thoughts of what happened in Arkham.

"At least you feel something. Never tell Cobb, or Arthur. Never tell anyone. No one can know who you really are." Bruce said.

She snapped her head back up. Not wanting to talk about the Red Queen or the dream anymore.  
>"Well, then let's begin." She said.<p>

The Architect followed Wayne into his study, PASIV case in her hand. Ready to teach his subconscious to defend it's self.

She was humming a frightful little lullaby and she closed and locked the door behind her.

~ End ~

** I'm currently working on a new Inception fic. It will take place right after "Never Hold Back", "Deception", "Ariadne's Thread", and "A Week at the Level."**

** This one is called "Arthur's Secrets" It takes place after Arthur and Ariadne are married. She finds he had been keeping things from her. Most importantly a secret love child.**


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